The black and queer artist started doing art fulltime in 1977 when she was in her late thirties after a career in public health in New York. Also in 1977, she made the move to Georgia, where she ended up spending most of her adult life.

Buchanan passed away in 2015 and left behind an impressive collection of work from sculptures to paintings to anthropological stories about people she encountered. Her retrospective, which is now on view at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, includes 150 of her pieces, many of which were the product of her time in Georgia and the South.

“City Lights” host Lois Reitzes spoke with the two curators Park McArthur and Jennifer Burris about the exhibit, which was originally on view at the Brooklyn Museum.

The retrospective is called “Beverly Buchanan—Ruins and Rituals” and is open through Dec. 2. The opening reception is tonight at 6:30 p.m.